
Step one was taking the random cut board and bringing it to shape. The first set of divider walls went together easy enough, just some screws through the divider floor into the individual walls. First two sets of boxes took shape quickly! Its still hard to put to imagination what this will eventually end up like at this point.



Things are finally starting to take shape! At least they look a little like dog compartments now.

None of us were really excited about this step. So much could go wrong. Costing us a door, or worse the whole outer wall. Off to the store for a fresh router bit!

Here you can see the special notch we had to do in our lower front doors to accommodate the bulkhead flange of the flatbed. It took a little ingenuity to create the flange in the square jig we made for the router to follow to make the door delete cuts and main door cuts.



Having a slightly smaller bed on the truck had limited the amount of storage capability we had on both aspects of the build. But I think we found a nice compromising middle ground to work with. I for one was very pleased at this stage of the process.

With an ample bead of silicone it was ready to be squared into place and tacked down. We wanted to limit the amount of screw holes going through the roof to keep it as weather tight as possible. Our last box proved to have some leaks through the roof which made for some pretty miserable dogs on the rainy days.


As of this moment it is clear we officially have a 12-dog dog box almost ready to be installed on the back of the truck!
The excitement is definitely building through the shop as we get closer to putting this project to an end and hitting the trails!

All of a sudden we have what appears to be a fully functional dog box awaiting its final fitting onto the truck bed!

It has been a long journey, a lot of lessons learned, some frustrations, and a whole lot of fun to bring this dream to life! Now we are ready to put it on the truck for the late start of the 2014 Season for Team Keahi!
I would sincerely like to thank my husband Brian, for his patience and unwavering dedication to quality, and Mike Hinkle for his knowledge and use of his shop (not to mention the laughs!) It's been great and I'm looking forward to the next project with you guys!